Third Reading on the Civil Liability Bill of Bhutan 2022 continued
The National Assembly of Bhutan today continued the deliberation on the Third Reading of the Civil Liability Bill of Bhutan 2022 after having three continuous sessions of in-house plenary.
The House deliberated on the Bill section-wise and unanimously supported the Committee’s recommendations despite a few clerical changes in some sections from section 4, Application.
Extensive deliberation took place on sections 71 and 72 concerning the liability for livestock trespass. On this, the House raised the concerns of these sections creating chaos in the community and increasing the rural-urban migration. The House recommended repealing sections 71 & 72 and the House supported it through a majority show of hands.
The House also deliberated on section 168 under the authoritative text where the Human Rights and Foreign Relation Committee recommended that “In any instance of a difference in meaning between the Dzongkha and the English texts of this Act, each text shall be regarded as equally authoritative and courts shall reconcile the two texts.” However, the House did not support the recommendation.
While deliberating on section 169 about definition, the House directed the Human Rights and Foreign Relations Committee to revisit sub-section 22 and 23 on personal injury and personal injury or death respectively, and report to the House tomorrow.
The House also nominated Hon’ble Ugyen Wangdi, Hon’ble Karma Wangchuk, Hon'ble Kinley Wangchuk, and Hon’ble Yeshey Dem and directed the Committee to nominate two members from the Committee to refine the terms in the Bill for comprehensive understanding.
The House will officially adopt the Bill tomorrow, 30th November 2022.
